Rogowski is new command chief Published Dec. 14, 2005 By SrA Jonathan Jones 434th ARW Public Affairs Grissom Air Reserve Base, Ind -- “The most important duty is taking care of the people.” That’s what the 434th Air Refueling Wing’s newly selected command chief master sergeant said.Senior Master Sgt. Peri Rogowski succeeds Chief Master Sgt. Randy Van Loton, in the top enlisted position. Chief Van Loton retired after more than 36 years of military service. Sergeant Rogowski is slated for promotion to chief master sergeant in January. Her initial reaction to being selected for this position was extreme excitement and a sense of anxiousness, she said. “This is such an honor and privilege, she added.” “It is indeed going to be a challenge, Grissom is moving into a lot of different directions and it is one that I look forward to tremendously with a lot of enthusiasm to do the best job I can for the men and women of Grissom,” she said. Sergeant Rogowski is no stranger to Grissom personnel as she has served all 24 years of her military service here. Prior to becoming the command chief master sergeant of the 434th ARW, she was the first sergeant to the 434th Maintenance Operations Flight. Her first assignment in 1981 was with the 930th Consolidated Aircraft Maintenance Squadron as an administrative specialist, she said. Other past assignments include maintenance trainer for the 930th CAMS, working in the education and training office in the 434th ARW and first sergeant to the 434th Mission Support Squadron.Since Sergeant Rogowski is familiar with the challenges that she believes Grissom is currently facing, she is prepared to get to work right away. She believes there are four key areas of concentration, to include readiness to deploy, recognition of servicemembers, balance between ancillary and work center training, and one of the most important factors retention. With outstanding leadership, positive attitudes and a willingness to get the job done, the younger airmen will be able to realize success in these challenging areas, she said. In addition, she believes that there are two types of infectious behavior that affect those challenges. These behaviors include enthusiasm and apathy.“When you have young airmen come in that have no sense of perception of what is going on, on the base, what some of the inside track is and you have some folks that might not be very enthusiastic and have an apathetic type of attitude,” she esplained.This affects other people in the office or shop and the individual himself, she added. “I challenge every person on this base to stand up to apathy and not be afraid to stand up and try to encourage folks to be enthusiastic and positive about our work,” the command chief said. Assisting airmen in having positive attitudes is done when officers, senior non-commissioned officers and junior NCOs have a flexible and professional leadership style. Sergeant Rogowski identifies with this type of style as she continues to create trust through her friendly demeanor, compassion for one another, while encouraging her counterparts to come to her as problems arise. Also, she maintains discipline effectively by solving conflicts when airmen cross the line by quickly imposing the discipline necessary to the given situation.From her leadership style to her disciplinary style, she is ultimately concerned with representing the people and acting as a voice for all civilian and military personnel, which goes back to retention and working for the people, while working together to get the job done.“Personnel assigned at Grissom are our greatest resource and if we don’t take care of them we might as well shut down,” she added. “I challenge everyone to stand up in the face of adversity and apathy, and try to instill an enthusiastic positive light on our great wing. I challenge them to get their affairs in order, to be ready to deploy. It basically honors their family by doing that and personally I think that is number one; we need to take care of our family, we need to take care of ourselves, we need to take care of our children,” she added.
